Secret Santa
by dreammaker-heartbreaker
Summary: It's christmas time in Schulman and Associates and Mindy has insisted on a Secret Santa exchange. But things take a turn in her annual christmas party. *Apologies for the unusual timing- I started it christmas time but didnt get around to submitting*


"Merry Christmas Everyone!" Mindy said as she entered her office in a suitably Christmassy outfit.

"Hey Dr L" Betsy said cheerful as always, "You look amazing."

"Thanks Bets, I was going for a Mrs Clause but sexy you know."

"Well, you pulled it off." She complimented not quite sure what Mindy meant by the description.

"I hope you're all ready for my Christmas party tonight, I promise it will kick last year's fiasco's ass. I have wine, lights, music-"

Morgan chimed in; "Do you have a turkey?"

"I- what? No"

"Cause I can get you a turkey."

"No, Morgan."

"I have connections, cousin Lou is-"

"No Morgan, I won't be serving turkey at my Christmas party. Ok, it's just going to be some drinks, a few cocktails, some snacks if you want to bring your own and I hope you all have you're Secret Santa gifts ready."

"Sure do Mind," said Peter as he was leaving the office to shop for exactly that.

She walked over to Danny who was leaning on the reception desk, "And I think I know exactly who my Secret Santa is..." when she reached him she held her hand to his face as he remained expressionless.

"Yo, Dr L are we like giving them to each other in front of everyone or can we just give them whenever we want? Cause, I got mine for Beverly now." Tamra said pulling what was presumably her present which was badly wrapped in newspaper.

"No, Tamra. The purpose of it is that you don't know who's got you a present. Now Beverly knows-"

"I got mine for Morgan...here you go." Beverly said as she threw a plastic bag to him. "I didn't wrap it because...I wanted to be kind to the environment."

"Ok, Beverly it's still in a plastic bag. That's not how it works-" Mindy said getting exasperated with her co-workers.

"Oh sweet. You know I love jerky. I know what I'll be snacking on tonight!"

"Oh god." Mindy said and left the less than festive scene.

In her office, she sat behind her desk and waited for her computer to start up when Danny walked in.

"Did you see that? Christmas is ruined."

"How is it ruined, Morgan got turkey jerky. He's never been happier." Danny explained sitting opposite her.

"No, we were meant to have a big exchanging ceremony and now there's no point."

"Relax George Bailey, we can still do it, who cares."

"I'm probably too young to understand that reference...I do Danny. I do." He left her office exasperated; sometimes there was just no reasoning with her.

"Good Morning Dr Reed." Betsy greeted him for behind her desk.

"Morning, Betsy. Don't you look delightful today." He said oozing his British charm.

"Oh thank you, I've got these new cardigans and I think they-"she started when his phone rang and cut her off mid sentence. He offered a polite apology and took the call in his office.

"Cardigans?" Tamra offered from behind her after seeing the whole exchange.

"What ? We were just talking."

"Please. He is a successful, Australian Doctor. He's gonna need more than just cardigans to talk to you about."

"British. He's british."

"Yeah, they're the same thing."

"No, they're-"

"I'm giving you advice; I don't want a biography lesson."

"Geography." She corrected but was met with a less than amused look. "Sorry."

"I have an idea, why don't you come to mine before the party tonight and I'll give you a makeover so good he won't be able to resist you!"

"What are you talking about? I don't need a makeover to impress him, I've-"

"Got new cardigans...I know!"

"No, I mean he's just my boss. I don't like him, like him."

"Really? Because those sexy cardigans say otherwise." Morgan chimed in.

"Oh Betsy" Jeremy called from his office, "Thanks for those cookies yesterday, they were delicious."

"You're welcome. I'll bring you that banana bread I was telling you about next week."

"Are you trying to fatten me up?" he teased before going back into his office.

Tamra rounded in on Betsy, "You can't bring him banana bread! Are you insane?"

"What? It's delicious."

"You're not his Nanna, Betsy. Next you're gonna be telling me that you made him play clothes out of curtains singing about cats with whiskers and noses with roses or whatever!"

"It wasn't play clothes! It was a hat and he told me that my sewing was perfectly symmetrical!"

"Oh lord! You've gone full Von Trapp on his ass. This is worse than I thought. My house tonight, 6.30."

"Want me to bring anything?" Morgan asked, "Grandma has some garments I think would be perfect for-"

"Not you Morgan!" Tamra shouted as she walked away.

Mindy was standing in her kitchen dressed sequined festive attire. Drinks bottles covered her counter tops and she was opening a bottle of wine when there was a knock at the door.

"Hey Danny." She said kissing her boyfriend, "What are you wearing? What about this blue jean and flannel outfit says 'Festive Attire' to you?"

"There's red in the checks!"

"Barely! I don't even- whatever." She knew when to pick her battles so let him have this one.

"What are you doing?"

"Making cocktails." She opened a bottle and began pouring it into a punch bowl.

"That's just wine. You're just pouring wine into a bowl."

"Danny! I obviously haven't finished yet." She said before she went to her fruit bowl and picked up the least mouldy looking pieces and putting them into the bowl. "Now it's fruit punch!" He was going to argue about it, but after all this time together; he too knew what battles were worth fighting. "I'll have a beer."

A knock at the door signalled that the party was about to begin so he helped himself to the fridge while the host answered the door.

An hour or so had passed and all of the guests had arrived. Betsy and Tamra had arrived together and much to everyone's surprise Betsy had fully embraced the Festive Theme that Mindy had insisted upon.

"Betsy! Hubba Hubba! You look smoking hot girl!" Mindy offered her a high five that she meekly reciprocated.

"Thanks Dr L, I feel beautiful like Sandy in Grease after she gets all whored up." She said to everyones surprise.

"Yeah you do!" Mindy turned to show them where all of the drinks were and invite them inside. "Morgan's on cocktail duty so just give him your order and he'll make you whatever you want."

The girls went over to the make shift bar area where Morgan had set up camp and had fully embraced the bar keep character.

"Ladies, what can I get you?" he asked while he was wiping down the bar with a white towel before he threw it over his shoulder.

"I'll have a Shirley Temple please." Betsy requested.

"What? Nuh uh girl, you got your big girl pants on tonight! We'll have two Mai Tais...double up on the rum." Tamra looked to see Betsy's worried reaction and they observed the party while they waited. "Oh, there he is...Prince Charming." She signalled towards Jeremy who was talking with Peter. Morgan then handed them two tumblers and Betsy in her nervous panic took as big of a gulp as she could manage.

"Morgan! This is just beer in a small glass!" Tamra shouted to him.

"Yeah, I don't know what a Mai Tai is..."

"OKAY EVERYBODY! CAN I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION?" Mindy stood in the middle of her party, "Since we're all here, I think it's time for our Secret Santa's!"

Everyone started to gather around, "Since Beverly and Morgan have already received their gifts, they are excluded from this portion of the evening. So please, just keep quiet and amuse yourselves...No Beverly! Not like that! Okay, moving on quickly. Peter, do you want to start?"

"Uh alright, I got Tamra. Merry Christmas T." He handed her a package and she unwrapped it.

"Tampons?! Really Peter?" Mindy interfered.

"TAMPONS!" Tamra was inexplicably happy with this discovery, "The good kind!"

"Yeah, now you can stop stealing them from the ladies room!"

She hugged him tightly with thanks and they moved on to Mindy.

"Okay, so I got Danny...here you go sweetheart. I hope you love it...just as much as I...love you."

"I doubt it." He said before opening it.

"What the hell you son of a-?" she shouted to him.

"Well whatever it is, it's just an object! How could I love it as much as one person to another."

"Okay, you know what! Now you don't deserve it!" she snatched it from him and dramatically stormed into the kitchen where she proceeded to throw it into the trash can. "Take note everyone, this is what happens when you are severely underappreciated in a relationship. The night is ruined. Christmas is ruined. Are you happy Castellano? You did this." She left the party and locked herself in her room.

"You all know I didn't, right?" he asked his co workers as he was met with silent nods.

The party took a turn after Mindy's outburst and after an hour or so, everyone began to make their excuses to leave at the raging time of 9.30pm.

Betsy had successfully avoided any interactions with Jeremy and in Tamra's frustration with her, she told her to fetch their coats from Mindy's closet! While in there, she hunted through the rails of Mindy's clothes looking for Tamra's coat when the door closed behind her and there he was.

"Betsy! There you are...have you been avoiding me?" Jeremy asked playfully. "Loving the new look by the way." He said distractedly as he reached for his own coat and put it on.

"Oh you know me, mixing it up, playing the field, breaking the mould..."

He continued to watch her as she trailed off not knowing what to do next.

"Well listen, I know we didn't get to do our Secret Santa's. But I got you." He pulled out a small wrapped present from his pocket and handed it to her.

"Oh!"

"Don't get too excited, I don't know if it will go with your new image but-"

She opened it and inside was a sweet little pin broach.

"It's a family heirloom. I believe it belonged to my great grandmother...or a woman she lived with after my grandfather died. Anyway, I thought it would look nice on your new cardigans..."

"I can't accept this Dr Reed."

"Yes you can," he said and he took it and pinned it to her or rather Tamra's leather jacket, "I want someone special to have it."

"Aren't you too old to be playing seven minutes in heaven?!" Peter shouted through the closed door.

Betsy became her usual bashful self and Jeremy opened the door and guided her out.

"Oh, it's just Betsy and Jeremy." Peter explained to the other guests.

Betsy rushed over to Tamra to try and get her out of there quickly.

"I couldn't find your coat!" she opened the front door.

"I didn't bring a coat." Tamra winked at her and as they walked out she commented "Nice pin", and they left.


End file.
